Manufacturing generally involves the making of items for sale, e.g., by constructing the items from component parts. Once produced, the items are often stored as inventory, e.g., in warehouse facilities, and ultimately shipped to retail stores or directly to consumers.
In scenarios in which a quantity of inventory is produced which exceeds short-term or long-term demand by consumers, the excess inventory may be stored (incurring associated storage costs) and/or sold at reduced prices (with associated reductions in profitability). On the other hand, in scenarios in which the quantity of inventory is insufficient to meet consumer demands, then manufacturers and other providers may lose opportunities to consummate sales, and again may suffer from reduced profitability, as well as from negative effects of customer dissatisfaction on the part of consumers who are unable to receive a desired item in a timely fashion. Moreover, the manufacturer may suffer from losses associated with non-optimal usage of production facilities, such as, e.g., when assembly lines or other manufacturing equipment sit(s) idle and at least temporarily fails to provide a return on investment to the manufacturer.
Therefore, it is desirable to minimize available inventory while still ensuring that customer demands for product availability are met. However, accomplishing this goal is made difficult by a variety of factors, such as, e.g., variations in customer demand, variations in availability of manufacturing facilities, and a need to optimize scheduling of component parts received from part suppliers (particularly when a large number of such suppliers/parts are required to be scheduled). As a result, it may be difficult for a manufacturer to provide items for sale in a manner that optimizes the resources of the manufacturer, while still maintaining a desired level of product availability as experienced by consumers.